System and Method for Managing Messages in a Packetized Voice Environment

ABSTRACT

A method includes receiving, at a first customer premises equipment device, an indication of an incoming call. The indication is received in response to a call signal of the incoming call being received at a second customer premises equipment device from a session initiation protocol agent associated with the second customer premises equipment. The call signal is received when the second customer premises equipment device is engaged in a call. The call is distinct from the incoming call. The method includes, in response to receiving the indication, storing, at the first customer premises equipment device, a voice message from a calling party. The voice message is associated with the call signal of the incoming call.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/637,504 filed on Dec. 14, 2009 andentitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MESSAGES IN A PACKETIZED VOICEENVIRONMENT”, which is a divisional of and claims priority from U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/887,210, filed on Jul. 8, 2004 andentitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MESSAGES IN A PACKETIZED VOICEENVIRONMENT”, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,684,549. The contents ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/637,504 and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/887,210 are expressly incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to packetized telephony, andmore specifically to a system and method for managing messages in apacketized voice environment.

BACKGROUND

Packetized voice offerings like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) havebecome increasingly popular in recent years. In general, VoIP offeringsprovide for the transport of voice streams over a data network usingdata transport protocols more commonly associated with the PublicInternet, namely User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (UPD/IP)suite.

As packetized voice offerings have begun to blur the line between voicetraffic and data traffic, services like voicemail and messaging havemigrated into the network. Several telephony providers now manage theseofferings at a centralized messaging system located in the network. Whena caller fails to reach a called party, the caller may simply be routedto a unified messaging center and prompted to leave a message.

While such a solution may provide improved efficiencies for the networkoperator and/or service provider, many users may find the availablesolutions wanting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements illustrated in the Figures have not necessarily been drawn toscale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements areexaggerated relative to other elements. Embodiments incorporatingteachings of the present disclosure are shown and described with respectto the drawings presented herein, in which:

FIG. 1 presents a block diagram of a message management system thatincorporates teachings of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram for a call control technique that may beused to implement teachings of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 presents a simplified block diagram for a system thatincorporates teachings of the present disclosure to provide an enhancedlevel of VoIP call control to the called party; and

FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram for a technique that may be used toimplement teachings of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As VoIP deployments expand into the residential telephony market,voicemail and messaging services may begin to move in-network. As such,a call to a VoIP subscriber that goes unanswered may get routed to acentralized unified messaging center. While such a solution mayrepresent an improvement in network efficiency, some subscribers maywant to have more control over the incoming call.

The present disclosure describes techniques for facilitating a higherdegree of call control in a packetized voice system. While thedisclosure describes VoIP offerings implemented in a communicationnetwork that utilizes the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), theteachings may also be applied to other networks and with other protocolsand call control schemas. From a high level, a system and/or methodincorporating teachings of the present disclosure may provide apacketized voice subscriber with the ability to screen in-coming calls,to store important messages locally, to better manage privacy issuessurrounding stored messages, and combinations thereof.

In practice, these capabilities may be supported by one or more SIPapplications. SIP offers a text-based description protocol that allowstwo systems to describe a communicated media stream. The descriptionitself may include information relating to authentication, calleridentification (ID), media stream parameters, and/or other informationfor supporting the call between two endpoints.

In operation, a call intended for a dialed number may be received innetwork on a channel or other communication link. A call receipt processmay begin in order to learn what to do with and where to “send” thereceived call. For example, a dialed number, or some other type ofdevice address may be translated into a variable for use during callprocessing activities. The processing activities may include, forexample, a number of match tests performed against the variable. Thesematch tests may be executed until a match is found.

A found match may have several allocated operators. These operatorsoften have a priority indicator telling a processing server in whatorder the server should attempt to execute the applications associatedwith the found match. When, for example, there are three operationsassociated with a given match, a SIP-based system may prioritize theoperations by giving them respective priority values of 1, 2, and3—telling the processing server to try the priority 1 operation first.In some embodiments, the operators and/or their respective priorityindicators may be altered by a subscriber in near real time. Asubscriber may want “dial home” to be the number one priority during onewindow of time and “dial voicemail” to be the number one priority duringsome other window of time.

In one embodiment, when an inbound call is directed to a particulardialed number (e.g., 512-345-6789), a variable value of a portion of theparticular dialed number (e.g., 6789) may be assigned to the dialednumber. The variable may then be compared against a list of matchstatements to determine how to handle the call. When the priority 1application for the match is “Dial home,” this application may beperformed.

The Dial application may direct the processing server to ring a remotechannel and then connect the two channels together when a connect callsignal is received from the called device. As mentioned above, when aDial application gets an answer on the remote channel, the two callersmay be bridged together and the call may proceed. After the call, one orboth parties to the call may “hang up”. When this occurs, the Dialroutine may exit and the priority list may stop executing.

In some cases, there may be no answer to the call launched by the Dialapplication. When, for example, the Dial application rings a remotephone for some set amount of time, which may be specified in a Dialstatement, and there is no answer, Dial may exit and the next priorityapplication may be executed. In a system incorporating teachings of thepresent disclosure, the next application may include both a ContinuedDial application and a Copy to Network Voicemail application. Forexample, a called party may have a piece of VoIP Customer PremisesEquipment (CPE) that acts as a premises answering machine. The callermay be connected to the CPE and hear an “unavailable” greeting for thecalled party. The greeting may prompt the caller to leave a message,which may be stored locally on the CPE and copied in-network at acentralized messaging center. Depending upon implementation detail, thecopying may occur simultaneously or at some later time. Moreover, thecopying may occur automatically and/or at the direction of the calledparty subscriber.

As indicated above, when a SIP application, like the Dial application,proves ineffective, a SIP processing server may need to move to a nextor higher level priority application. In practice, an ineffective Dialapplication may be exited and an adder value may be applied to theexisting priority value—allowing the processing server to move ahead toa new priority level.

A service provider may elect to provide SIP-like functionality usingseveral different architectures. Depending upon implementation detail,some SIP components may be combination modules or discrete modules,implemented in software, hardware, and/or firmware. From a high level,many SIP system components may be acting as or executing user agents(UA) and/or SIP servers.

For example, telephony devices may include user agents (UAs), which maybe a combination of a user agent client (UAC) and a user agent server(UAS). In operation, a UAC entity may be permitted to create an originalrequest, and a UAS may represent one or more server types capable ofreceiving requests and sending back responses. A SIP UA may beimplemented in hardware such as an Internet Protocol (IP) phone or agateway component or in software such as a softphone application runningon a computing platform.

Various SIP UAs may connect to one another with the help of a collectionof SIP servers. In many cases, these SIP servers may be executing oncentralized hosts of a distributed communication network. Againdepending upon implementation detail, a large SIP system may includeseveral different kinds of servers such as Location Servers, ProxyServers, Redirect Servers, and Registrar Servers.

In operation, a Location Server may be used by a Redirect server or aProxy Server to obtain information about a called party's location. AProxy Server may represent an intermediary program that acts as both aserver and a client for the purpose of making requests on behalf ofother clients. Such requests may be serviced internally or transferredto other servers. In some cases, a Proxy Server may interpret and thenrewrite a request message before forwarding it. A Redirect Server mayaccept a SIP request, map the address into zero or more new addresses,and return these addresses to the client. In some cases, the RedirectServer may be designed such that it does not accept calls but doesgenerate SIP responses that instruct a UAC to contact another SIPentity. As the name implies, a Registrar Server may accept REGISTERrequests and may be co-located with a Proxy or Redirect server to offerthese servers some level of location server-like assistance.

In a particular embodiment, a voice management method includes invokingan updatable call completion rule in a memory of an answering machinemodule in customer premises equipment. The answering machine modulereceives an incoming call signal for a session initiation protocol useragent. The session initiation protocol user agent has a first addressand the answering machine module has a second address different from thefirst address. The method further includes saving a message receivedfrom a calling party associated with the incoming call signal to thememory via the answering machine module. The method also includessending a graphical user interface from the answering machine module toa display of the customer premises equipment to present informationabout the incoming call.

In a particular embodiment, a messaging system includes a processor andat least one memory accessible to the processor. The messaging systemfurther includes an interface to facilitate communicatively coupling theprocessor to a premises network. The messaging system further includes asession initiation protocol user agent application in the at least onememory. The session initiation protocol user agent application isoperable to be executed by the processor to receive an incoming voiceover internet protocol call directed to a first address. The messagingsystem further includes an answering machine module in the at least onememory. The answering machine module includes processor-readableinstructions executable by the processor to play a recorded announcementto a calling party of the incoming voice over internet protocol call.The answering machine module also includes processor-readableinstructions executable by the processor to record a messagecommunicated from the calling party in response to the recordedannouncement in the at least one memory upon fulfillment of at least oneupdatable call completion rule. The messaging system also includes adisplay. The answering machine module includes additionalprocessor-readable instructions executable by the processor to present agraphical user interface to display information about one or moremessages recorded in the at least one memory by the answering machinemodule at the display.

In a particular embodiment, a voicemail messaging method includesreceiving a signal indicating a request to complete a voice overinternet protocol call from a calling party to a voice over internetprotocol device of a called party. The voicemail messaging methodfurther includes communicating an incoming call signal to a deviceaddress associated with the voice over internet protocol device of thecalled party. The voicemail messaging method further includes receivinga connect call request from an answering machine module coupled to thevoice over internet protocol device upon fulfillment of at least oneupdatable call completion rule. The voicemail messaging method furtherincludes connecting the calling party and the answering machine module.The voicemail messaging method further includes maintaining informationabout the called party in a network repository. The information includesa mailbox address for a network-based voicemail box. The voicemailmessaging method further includes saving a voicemail message in thenetwork-based voicemail box. The voicemail messaging method furtherincludes receiving a transfer request from the answering machine modulerequesting that a copy of the saved voicemail message be communicated tothe answering machine module. The voicemail messaging method alsoincludes bridging a first communication channel of the answering machinemodule with a network-based voicemail box channel to facilitatecommunication of the copy of the saved voicemail message to theanswering machine module.

As referenced above, a SIP system may facilitate providing enhanced callcontrol features that incorporate teachings of the present disclosure.Many features, in addition to the above-described features may be betterunderstood in connection with the Figures. As mentioned above, FIG. 1presents a block diagram of a message management system 10 thatincorporates teachings of the present disclosure. As depicted, a system10 includes a remote physical location 12 that contains variouscomputing devices accessible by a user or subscriber. The devices mayinclude, for example, a wired telephone 13 (which may be a Plain OldTelephony Service (POTS) telephone and/or a VoIP telephone), a laptopcomputer 14, and a wireless telephone 20, each of which may be capableof executing a SIP UA. Moreover, each of these devices may possess aneffective identifier, which could include an IP address, a telephonenumber, a Media Access Control address, a Data Link Control (DLC)address, and/or some other addressable identifier.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the laptop computer 14 may a haveshort-range or local area wireless transceiver that serves to connectthe laptop computer 14 to a local area network (LAN) hub 16 across awireless link 18. As depicted, the LAN hub 16 may communicate with oneor more local devices across a wireless link. In some embodiments, theLAN hub 16 may communicate across wired links. Moreover, the LAN hub 16may act as an EtherSwitch or router and may utilize a backhaul at leastpartially provided by a service line data connection to a broadbandnetwork interface device like a modem 26. Depending upon implementationdetail, the modem 26 may be configured to communicate digital VoIP datavia an IP Protocol network (e.g., the Public Internet). The modem 26 maybe an asynchronous digital subscriber line (ADSL) modem, a digitalsubscriber line (DSL) modem, a satellite modem, a fiber optictermination point, a cable modem, or other high-speed interface.

Within the system 10, the wireless phone 20 may also be “connected” to acellular network node 22 across a wireless link 24, which may be, forexample, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or some form of EnhancedData GSM Environment (EDGE). The wireless links 18 and 24 may beimplemented in several ways. The wireless link type may depend on theelectronic components associated with given wireless devices andwireless LAN hubs. The wireless computing device, wireless hub, or both,referred to as “the Wireless Enabled Device,” may include any of severaldifferent components. For example, the Wireless Enabled Device may havea wireless wide area transceiver, which may be part of a multi-deviceplatform for communicating data using radio frequency (RF) technologyacross a large geographic area. This platform may for example, be aGPRS, EDGE, or a third generation groupe special mobile (3GSM) platform,and may include multiple integrated circuit (IC) devices or a single ICdevice.

The Wireless Enabled Device may also have a wireless local areatransceiver that communicates using spread-spectrum radio waves in a 2.4GHz range, 5 GHz range, or other suitable range. The wireless local areatransceiver may be part of a multi-device or single device platform andmay facilitate communication of data using low-power RF technologyacross a small geographic area. For example, when the wireless localarea transceiver includes a Bluetooth transceiver, the transceiver mayhave a communication range with an approximate radius of twenty-five toone hundred feet. When the wireless local area transceiver includes an802.11(x) transceiver, such as an 802.11(a)(b) or (g), the transceivermay have a communication range with an approximate radius of one hundredfifty to one thousand feet.

As shown in FIG. 1, the LAN hub 16 may represent an 802.11(x)embodiment, which may be referred to as a hotspot or access point. TheLAN hub 16 may be communicatively coupled to the modem 26, which may becapable of connecting the LAN hub 16 to a broader network (e.g., thePublic Internet 28). As shown, both the laptop computer 14 and thewireless phone 20 may be ultimately coupled to the Public Internet 28.The laptop computer 14 may connect via the wireless link 18 to the LANhub 16 and via the modem 26 to a service provider network 30, which mayfacilitate connection to the Public Internet 28. In some embodiments,the service provider network 30 may be a cable network, and the modem 26may be a cable modem. In some embodiments, service provider network 30may be a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and the modem 26 maybe an xDSL modem. While the modem 26 and the LAN hub 16 are depicted asstand-alone and discrete devices, they may also be combined into asingle device.

In practice, the information communicated across the various links ofthe system 10 may be compressed and/or encrypted prior to communication.Communication may be at least partially via a circuit-switched networklike the PSTN, a frame-based network like Fibre Channel, or apacket-switched network that may communicate using Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) and/or User DatagramProtocol/Internet Protocol (“UDP/IP”) packets like the Public Internet28. The physical medium making up at least some portion of the variouslinks may be coaxial cable, fiber, twisted pair, an air interface, otherinterface, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, network accesslinks may provide a broadband connection facilitated by an xDSL modem, acable modem, an 802.11x device, some other broadband wireless linkingdevice, or a combination thereof. The broadband connection may include alink providing data rates greater than 56 Kbps. Other broadbandconnections may provide data rates greater than 144 Kbps, 256 Kbps, 500Kbps, 1.0 Mbps, 1.4 Mbps, or faster.

In a particular embodiment of the system 10, a user may maintain anetwork connection from the premises 12 to the service provider network30 and may subscribe to a VoIP service. In some embodiments, the usermay make use of a network-based messaging system 32 for storing messageslike voicemail messages, electronic mail messages, mobile alertmessages, Short Messaging Service messages (SMS), Enhanced MessagingService messages (EMS), and/or Multi-media Messaging Service messages(MMS). As depicted, the network-based messaging system 32 may becommunicatively coupled to the service provider network 30. Inoperation, the network-based messaging system 32 may include a gateway34 that receives queries, calls, and/or messages from other systemdevices. The gateway 34 may communicate with a memory engine 36 thatmanages and maintains information stored in a memory 38. The storedinformation may include, for example, unified mailboxes for messagingsubscribers. In some embodiments, the memory engine 36 may also includean update engine 40 that allows subscribers to modify, read from, copyfrom, and/or write to, the mailboxes.

During operation of the system 10, a calling party at a premises 42 mayuse a VoIP telephone 44 to place a call to a called party staying at thelocation 12, which may be a home, an office, a hotel, and/or some otherlocation. The VoIP call may be held at a SIP server 46 located withinthe service provider network 30. A SIP server 46 may utilize a locationserver 48 to determine an appropriate device address for the calledparty. The device address may be, for example, a telephone number, an IPaddress, a MAC address, and/or some other effective identifier.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 1, the device address may identify adevice at the location 12. For example, the device address may beassociated with a softphone executing on the laptop computer 14. Assuch, the SIP server 46 may call the softphone and wait for a completecall request. In some cases, the called party may be “on” the softphoneand/or unavailable to receive the call from the calling party. In someembodiments, the SIP server 46 may move to a second level priorityapplication and route the calling party to the network-based messagingsystem 32. In some cases, the SIP Server 46 may have a second levelpriority that involves the direct calling of a SIP UA associated with apremises based answering machine module executing on a device at thelocation 12.

In such an embodiment, the answering machine module may indicate itswillingness to accept the call by issuing a SIP complete call request.Moreover, the calling party may be bridged to the answering machinemodule. The calling party may be played an announcement and may leave amessage that is stored locally at the location 12.

In preferred embodiments, the service provider network 30 may alsoinclude a modification server 50 and a messaging server 52. Themodification server 50 may be designed to allow a subscriber to call inand update the manner in which incoming calls to the subscriber are tobe handled. For example, the subscriber may change the order ofto-be-tried call completions and/or the device addresses to be tried.The messaging server 52 may maintain a list indicating whether a givensubscriber utilizes a voicemail box and whether the utilized voicemailbox is network-based and/or premises-based.

The operation of a system like the system 10 may be better understood byreference to additional figures. As mentioned above, FIG. 2 shows a flowdiagram for a technique 60 that may be used to implement teachings ofthe present disclosure. At 62, a VoIP subscriber may be identified assomeone who has access to a premises-based voicemail system. A memorymay be populated with a subscriber identifier, which may be a ten-digittelephone number and/or an Internet Protocol or MAC address associatedwith the premises-based voicemail system. The memory may also bepopulated with updateable call completion rules for managing incomingcalls to the subscriber and voicemail system addressing information.

In some embodiments, the addressing information may include a telephonenumber, an Internet Protocol address, a data network connection rule,and/or some other address. The addressing information may also beupdateable and represent a then-current mechanism for contacting asubscriber voicemail system. At 64, subscriber call completion rules maybe populated. This population may represent an initial population or asubsequent modification of earlier rules. In practice, a subscriber maynot want to save voice messages at the subscriber's premises every timethere is an unanswered incoming call.

At 66, a signal may be received indicating a desire to complete a callor send a message to the subscriber. In response to the message, a querymay be sent to a SIP user agent executing on a computing platformassociated with the called party subscriber. The query may be launched,at 68, and may result in the ringing of a piece of CPE at thesubscriber's premises. When the call is answered, at 70, a signalindicating a desire to complete the VoIP call from the calling party tocalled party may be received and the call may be bridged, at 72.

When the call is unanswered, at 70, a network-based SIP server may moveto a level two priority and send, at 74, a SIP query to a different useragent executing on a computing platform associated with a called partyanswering machine module. At 76, a connect call request from theanswering machine module may be received, and the calling party may beconnected to the answering machine module, at 78.

As mentioned above in relation to 62, a system executing the technique60 may maintain information about the called party in a networkrepository. In some embodiments, the information may include a mailboxaddress for a network-based voicemail box. At 80, a call from theanswering machine module may be received, and, at 82, a communicationlink with the answering machine module may be established. At 84, a saverequest may be received from the answering machine module requestingthat a copy of a voice message left by an earlier calling party at theanswering machine module be saved in the network-based voicemail box. At86, a copy of the voice message may be communicated to the network-basedvoicemail box.

Similarly, at 88 a different voicemail message may be saved originallyin the network-based voicemail box. At 90, a transfer request from thesubscriber may be received requesting that a copy of the differentvoicemail message be communicated to the answering machine module. Inresponse to the request and at 92, a link may be established between ananswering machine module communication channel and a network-basedvoicemail box channel to facilitate communication of the differentvoicemail message to the answering machine module. The technique 60 maythen progress to a stop, at 94. Though the technique 60 has beendescribed as having a particular sequence, additional steps may beadded, steps may be removed, steps may be re-ordered, and/or looped,without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure.

As mentioned above, FIG. 3 presents a simplified block diagram for asystem 84 that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure topresent an enhanced level of VoIP call control. The system 96 includes alaptop computer 98, which may rely on a connection 100 to provide atleast a portion of a link to a data network like the Public Internet.The connection 100 may, for example, connect the laptop computer 98 to abroadband network access device and/or a premises network, which may inturn be communicatively coupled to a wide area network like the PSTN ora cable network.

A web browser application may be running on laptop computer 98 and maypresent a user of the laptop computer 98 with a navigation window 102and a display pane 104. In operation, a user may type a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) into a portion of the navigation window 102 and a pagehaving that URL may be communicated to laptop computer 98 and presentedwithin the display pane 104. When the laptop computer 98 sends a requestfor the page having the input URL, a network element of the data networkmay recognize in the request an address to which it should send thepage.

The presence of a network connection at least partially provided via theconnection 100 may be recognized by a component of the laptop computer98. For example, the laptop computer 98 may include a computer-readablemedium 106 storing computer-readable data. Execution of some part ofthis data by a processor 108 may allow the laptop computer 98 to act asVoIP softphone and a premises-based answering machine module, which mayoperate in association with the VoIP telephone. For example, a softwareversion of a VoIP answering machine may be able to initiate an answeringof an incoming VoIP call, a playing of a recorded announcement to acalling party, and a saving of a message from the calling party. In someembodiments, the answering machine functionality may occur while a useris operating the softphone—allowing the user to simultaneously engage ina VoIP call and receive a voicemail.

The laptop computer 98 may also be capable of initiating presentation ofa graphical user interface (GUI) element 110 that may, as depicted,present call information to the user. As shown, the GUI element 110 mayindicate to the user that a call from “John” has been received by theanswering machine module and that “John” is currently leaving a messagewith a length of one minute and eleven seconds. In some embodiments, theuser may be listening to the message while it is being saved or laterwith a speaker assembly 112, which may be designed to interact with ahousing component 114 of the laptop computer 98. In some embodiments andas shown in FIG. 3, the GUI element 110 may provide a sloped and shadedtriangle or some other indication of the current volume setting. Asdepicted, the housing component 114 may also at least partially form aninterior cavity that houses the processor 108 and a memory medium 106,which may be RAM, ROM, flash, and/or some other appropriate form ofmemory.

Though the system 96 shows an integrated system where a single computerembodies a computer, a VoIP telephone, and a software implementedanswering machine module, other form factors and designs may be employedto practice teachings of the present disclosure. A system designer mayelect to utilize a stand-alone VoIP telephone connected to a stand-aloneanswering machine module that has its own housing. The connection may befixed or removable. For example, an answering machine module may have aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) interface capable of being plugged into amating USB interface of a VoIP telephone. Other interface designs mayinclude, for example, an 802.11(x) interface, a Bluetooth interface, aType I, II, and/or III Personal Computer Memory Card InternationalAssociation (PCMCIA) card and slot interface, some other memory cardform factor interface, a Firewire interface, and/or an appropriateparallel bus interface.

With such a design, the answering machine module may be relativelyportable. It may be plugged into a VoIP telephone having one telephonenumber and later plugged into a different VoIP telephony device having adifferent telephone number. In the depicted system of FIG. 3, forexample, a discrete answering machine module may be plugged into thelaptop computer 98 via an interface 118, which may be a USB interface.With reference to FIG. 1, a designer may also elect to provide aremovable module and/or build an answering machine module into one ormore of the devices located at the location 12.

Consideration of FIG. 4 may assist in providing a better understandingof how a user may make use of a system like the system 96 of FIG. 3.FIG. 4 shows a flow diagram for a technique 120 that may be used toimplement teachings of the present disclosure. At 122, a user may beengaging in a VoIP or other telephone call. While engaged in the call, asystem like the system 96 of FIG. 3 may, at 124, recognize an incomingcall signal. For example, a computing platform at the user's premisesmay be executing a SIP UA, and the SIP UA may recognize a query from aservice provider network node indicating that a calling party seeksconnection.

At 126, a piece of CPE may request that the incoming call be completedto a specific device. For example, a VoIP telephone station engaged inanother call may respond to the query and ask that the call be completedto a premises located answering machine module. Depending upon designcriteria, the actual process of completing the call to the answeringmachine may involve additional query and response cycles between piecesof CPE and the service provider network node. However accomplished, thecaller and the answering machine module may engage in a communication,at 128. At 130, the answering machine module may play a pre-recordedannouncement to the caller, and at 132, the answering machine module mayreceive a voice signal indicating an utterance of the caller.

At 134, a copy of the caller's voicemail message may be saved in amemory resident at the customer premises. In an embodiment in which thevoicemail message was left while the user was engaged in another call,the user may terminate the other call at 136 and listen to the recordedvoicemail message, at 138. In some embodiments, the user may elect tomove and/or copy the locally saved voicemail message to a network-basedrepository, at 140. The technique 120 may then progress to a stop, at142. As with technique 60, technique 120 has been described as having aparticular sequence. Additional steps may be added, steps may beremoved, steps may be re-ordered, and/or looped, all without departingfrom the teachings of the present disclosure.

It should also be understood that the incoming call signal referencedabove may arrive via a data link connecting a piece of CPE to a broadernetwork. The broader network may be a SIP-enabled network capable ofcommunicating packetized data such as Internet Protocol (IP) datapackets, and the data link may include, for example, a Global PacketRadio Services (GPRS) link, an Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE)link, a cable modem link, a satellite link, and a Digital SubscriberLine (DSL) link.

As mentioned above, a user may want an incoming call to go to a localanswering machine and/or a unified messaging service. In someembodiments, the subscriber may also want to receive a text-based and/oraudio-based version of the message at a different device. In operationof systems like the system 10 depicted in FIG. 1 and the system 96depicted in FIG. 3, nodes, servers, modules, agents, platforms,mechanisms, and/or engines may be implemented in several ways. Forexample, they may include hardware, firmware, software, executable code,and/or a combination thereof. Platforms, which may be implementingnodes, servers, modules, mechanisms, and/or engines, may be made up of amicroprocessor, a personal computer, a computer, some other computingdevice, or a collection thereof. Though nodes, servers, modules, agents,platforms, mechanisms, and/or engines may have been described asindividual elements, one or more may be combined and designed to operateas a single element.

In various embodiments, the communication devices described herein maytake forms including computers, laptops, desktops, wireless and cordlessphones, pagers, personal digital assistants with built in communicationscircuitries, cellular telephones, mobile telephones, and otherelectronic devices having processing and network access capabilities.

The methods and systems described herein provide for an adaptableimplementation. Although certain embodiments have been described usingspecific examples, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatthe disclosure is not limited to these few examples. Additionally,various types of wireless transceivers, transmitters, receivers, andprotocols are currently available which could be suitable for use inemploying the methods as taught herein. Note also, that although certainillustrative embodiments have been shown and described in detail herein,along with certain variants thereof, many other varied embodiments maybe constructed by those skilled in the art.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeature or element of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the presentdisclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forthherein, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives,modifications, and equivalents, as can be reasonably included within thescope of the disclosure as provided by the claims below.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a firstcustomer premises equipment device, an indication of an incoming call,the indication received in response to a call signal of the incomingcall being received at a second customer premises equipment device froma session initiation protocol agent associated with the second customerpremises equipment, wherein the call signal is received when the secondcustomer premises equipment device is engaged in a call, the calldistinct from the incoming call; and in response to receiving theindication, storing, at the first customer premises equipment device, avoice message from a calling party, wherein the voice message isassociated with the call signal of the incoming call.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the indication is received from a session initiationprotocol server associated with a service provider network and whereinthe indication includes a session initiation protocol query.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising sending a graphical user interfacefrom the first customer premises equipment to a display device topresent information about the incoming call.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a request from the second customerpremises equipment to store the voice message at a network storagedevice; and in response to receiving the request, storing the voicemessage at a network storage device.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising, in response to receiving a request from the second customerpremises equipment device, causing a copy of the voice message stored atthe network storage device to be sent to the second customer premisesequipment device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the call signalarrives via a data link including a global packet radio services link,an enhanced data group special mobile environment link, a cable modemlink, a satellite link, a digital subscriber line link, or a combinationthereof.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the call is a voice overinternet protocol call and wherein the second customer premisesequipment device is included in a voice over internet protocolcommunication device.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstcustomer premises equipment device is associated with a first internetprotocol address and the session initiation protocol agent is associatedwith a second internet protocol address.
 9. A system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory accessible to the processor, the memoryincluding instructions that are executable by the processor to performoperations comprising: receiving an indication of an incoming call, theindication received in response to a call signal of the incoming callbeing received at a customer premises equipment device from a sessioninitiation protocol agent associated with the customer premisesequipment, wherein the call signal is received when the customerpremises equipment device is engaged in a call, the call distinct fromthe incoming call; and in response to receiving the indication, storingin the memory a voice message from a calling party, wherein the voicemessage is associated with the call signal of the incoming call.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein the memory and the processor are included ina communication device, the communication device including a mobilecommunication device, a voice over internet protocol communicationdevice, or both.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the sessioninitiation protocol agent is associated with a first address and thecommunication device is associated with a second address different fromthe first address.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first addressis a first internet protocol address and the second address is a secondinternet protocol address.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving a request from the customerpremises equipment to store the voice message at a network storagedevice; and in response to receiving the request, storing the voicemessage at a network storage device.
 14. The system of claim 13, furthercomprising a network interface to communicate with a service providernetwork, wherein the network storage device is associated with a serviceprovider network.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the serviceprovider network provides a message communication service, the messagecommunication service including short messaging service, enhancedmessaging service, multimedia messaging service, or a combinationthereof.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the call is received from asession initiation protocol server associated with the service providernetwork and wherein the call is a voice over internet protocol call. 17.The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise sending agraphical user interface to a display device to present informationabout the incoming call.
 18. The system of claim 9, wherein the memorystores a call completion rule that indicates the voice message is to bestored in the memory in response to receiving the indication of theincoming call.
 19. A computer readable storage device storinginstructions that are executable by a processor to perform operationscomprising: receiving, at a first customer premises equipment device, anindication of an incoming call, the indication received in response to acall signal of the incoming call being received at a second customerpremises equipment device from a session initiation protocol agentassociated with the second customer premises equipment, wherein the callsignal is received when the second customer premises equipment device isengaged in a call, the call distinct from the incoming call; and inresponse to receiving the indication, storing, at the first customerpremises equipment device, a voice message from a calling party, whereinthe voice message is associated with the call signal of the incomingcall.
 20. The computer readable storage device of claim 19, wherein thefirst customer premises equipment device includes a voice over internetprotocol communication device and wherein the session initiationprotocol agent is associated with a first internet protocol address andthe voice over internet protocol communication device is associated witha second internet protocol address different from the first internetprotocol address.